15th February 2005

As I gaze out the window, snow is falling to blanket the ground with a winter wonderland of white. It is quite opposite of the weather that I have been in for the last few weeks and it always amazes me how airline travel brings you there and back again in no time.
I have just returned from Honduras, Central America, where myself, other Rotarians and volunteers have worked on different school construction projects. At the John F. Kennedy school and Triunfo school, three new classrooms were built. At San Matute, one classroom was built. The Polycarple school is having an aula de cocina (kitchen) built. All the latter schools were rewired by master electricians. The project I worked on was building a new 20' x 30' one room school which will replace the mud and clay school house (falling apart) they currently are using. The school was built in the village of Nuevo Amanecer. Literally translated that means new sunrise or new awakening.
The village, located easterly of Tela, has a population of around 80 people, 100's of chickens, a few pigs, two horses and no electricity. The school teaches 25 students each day from 7:00 a.m. to noon. Francisco, the teacher at the school, was our chauffeur during the construction and a wonderful tour guide. He comes from a family of teachers, both of his parents and one sister currently teach. Francisco earns around 4,000 L ($215 U.S.) each month which is considered a fairly good wage. The albinil (mason) on the job earned around $7 per day, for a very long day. All the others were volunteers. The gringo team, Tami, Dennis and Iain, teamed up again to build this school (we were together last year building a school in the village of Jazmin) and we were well trained. It was interesting to be under the supervision of another albinil and to see how he runs the show. Each day was a learning experience.
Our day would begin at around seven in the morning with breakfast. We were staying at a lovely beach front hotel, called Hotel Sherwood. At, eight, Francisco would arrive to pick us up. Some days we only had one stop, the fruit stand. Other days we would need to stop at the ferreterria (lumber yard) to buy materials. Upon arriving at the construction site, Oscar and Dom Luis would always be working away. Dom Luis (in his 60's) was the albinil and Oscar (25) his assistant. Kevin, 11 years young, would always be there, along with other children and fathers. Each day we never knew who would arrive to help us lay block and at times it was just the five of us. As the block laying progressed, so did the scaffolding. Last year we used the desks and chairs from the school for this purpose, not to safe (and in fact our last day on the job it broke!!) but this year we had wood to build the scaffolding from. We felt fortunate. Lunch break would arrive around noon, then back to work, and around three or so, one of us would start carving up the pineapple and watermelon for fruit break. Ahhh, this was very refreshing as the days were hot. Our day would end somewhere between four and five. At the end of the first week, Iain returned to Vermont, Dennis and I continued the routine for another week.
One evening the plan was to have dinner with Chinda and Anhil and their family. After working, the kids wanted to play futball (soccer) so off we headed to the field. What a blast we had. All of a sudden, while playing, we noticed cattle coming up over the bank and heading right into the playing field. Bulls and cows, along with a young man on a horse who was driving them. This episode did not phase the locals at all. I took cover from the bulls. It is common for Hondurans to drive their herd to the main road so that they can graze in the grass along side the road. Yes, this is very dangerous for both types of drivers, the horse driver and the vehicle driver, but you see it all the time. Not only cattle, but horses too. Some tie the horse so that they can not wander in the road, but most are free to roam.
Another evening while leaving, Dom Santos gave us a live chicken as a gesture of his gratitude for our work. We tied the chicken in the back of the pick up truck (see chicken photo with Dennis) and headed to Francisco's house. He said his mom would prepare the bird for us to eat but first it needed to live another day without food. A cleansing if you will. Dennis and I had a wonderful home cooked meal with Francisco's family the following night. These and other wonderful experiences happened all the time. The people are very gracious and happy. One of the volunteers working at the Triunfo site had an accident. While working on a ladder wiring a building, the ladder kicked out from under him and he went down hard. Jack broke his heel bone and was lucky nothing else broke. In the hospital, as they doctor was casting his leg, Jack was worrying about the bill as he did not think this Honduran hospital would take his Vermont health insurance card.
During the conversation with the doctor, Jack was telling him about the humanitarian work that we all were doing and in the end the doctor said good bye, wished Jack well and no bill was in sight. Gratis.
At the end of the second week, we saw the gable ends (culatas) completed with block. The next step was for the wooden rafters to be put in place that would hold the metal roof. This school will also have a small concrete porch at the entry way and two toilets attached at the back of the school. Our last day was both sad and happy. It is never easy to say good bye to those that you have shared many days with, but it is very rewarding to be leaving the village with a new school. I know the friendships we made will last a life time and I look forward to going back and painting this school, just as we did earlier in the trip when we went back to Jazmin and painted the school we built last year.
To reach deep down within oneself and make that extra effort, that is what makes life so special.
Peace

Tami Bass